“Come with me,” I said. She followed me down to the parking garage without a word, and we took the car to the shooting range. After waiting in the lobby, once it was our turn, we suited up, and Hazel scowled at me, as if wearing a bulletproof vest was her first clue that we were about to shoot guns.
“I don’t want to do this,” she shouted over the earmuffs.
“You need to be prepared for anything,” I said loudly. I gestured at the targets. I rearranged her hands on the pistol, then lifted her arms, taking aim. “Line up these posts,” I pointed at the front and rear sights, “Aim and shoot.”
“You’re joking.”
“Five shots, and we’ll go.”
She shook her head, but moved her arms like I had arranged them, and took aim.
The first shot fired. Nothing hit the paper.
“Focus,” I said loudly. “Don’t think. Just give it your best shot.”
The second shot missed too. But the third grazed the paper, and the fourth bullet hit the white space. And somehow, the final shot hit the target right in the head.
“Not bad,” I said.
She didn’t say a word, but headed towards the door to take off her gear.
In the car, she sat upright, but wouldn’t look at me.
“I don’t care who it is,” she finally said, “I will not take another life.”
I couldn’t be quiet anymore. “Another life? You didn’t take his life, Hazel,” I said. How long would it be until she believed that herself? “I’m not telling you to take a life. I’m trying to prepare you for any situation.”
“It’s always about preparing, isn’t it?” she snarled. The feet came up, propped against the dashboard.
Once we were home, for some reason, she still wanted to work together. I guess almost getting killed had put training into perspective. Luckily, the gym was already arranged.
“New techniques or practice old ones?” I asked.
“Practice.”
We went over the different delicate areas and worked on her movement. In a bear hug, I held her tight and she writhed against me. Her panting breaths should have been enticing, but I couldn’t think about that. Not now. She thrashed and leaned forward, and eventually got herself out of my grasp. Her fists flailed and dashed into my nose with full force, making it sting. She had been practicing on her own too. But the true circumstances were always different. It wasn’t practice when you faced reality.
We started some new techniques, using her elbow to aim at the neck and jaw. Once she got the hang of it, I was about to add another attack to lock her in place as soon as she blocked the strike, when her phone dinged. We both relaxed and she pranced to pick it up from the mat. She was grinning, and I shook my head. I didn’t want to get into this now. But I knew we would have to deal with it soon.
“Who are you texting?” I asked.
“Christine,” Hazel said, smiling to herself.
“Don’t text her.” She kept texting. “She can’t be trusted.”
“You meanyoucan’t trust her.” She met my eyes and crossed her arms. “She’s nice to me.”
“A lot of evil people are nice.” Myself included.
“I’m grateful for your help. Really, I am. I’ll listen to anything that has to do with the shelter and training.” She shrugged. “But I want to choose my own friends. Like you.”
I stared at her, not wanting to make her face the truth, but knowing that I had to. It hurt to see her like this. Full of hope. Desire in her eyes. Her care for me. Wanting there to be good in the world. And knowing that I was going to take that from her.
I took a deep breath. “She’s the stalker,” I said.
Hazel froze in place. “What?” she whispered.
“Christine is the stalker,” I said again. “Kiley confirmed it.”
